Management of grasslands in intensive dairy livestock farming

Abstract

As livestock production has increasingly intensified resulting in larger and more specialised farm units, the role of grassland in the production system has been marginalised. The change in EU policy, however, may make grass as feed more competitive and thereby give grassland the opportunity for a comeback. The challenge for research and grassland farming practices is to reflect this new framework. This paper reviews different production and management systems – mainly focusing on grazing systems – within intensive dairy farming and aspects of feeding and quality of herbage in order to propose areas of special interest within the new framework. Farming systems based on a high proportion of roughage, such as in organic farming, and systems based on legumes need to be further developed. There is a need for an increased research effort in the area of interaction of supplementary feeds and seasonal effects and also in the area of the interaction of N and carbohydrate degradation in the rumen with milk response and N efficiency. Additionally, time-restricted systems based on a better understanding of animal behaviour should be emphasised in order to maintain a high grass intake and reduce the excretion of nitrogen on pasture. The interaction between grassland management and new technology such as automatic milking will be important in order to keep a high proportion of the dairy cows on pasture.